Writers talk books on a rainy May evening in Ormond Beach

The rain waited until I rolled myself inside the Novel Tea Book Shop in Ormond Beach. In Central Florida, we’ve been waiting for rain since last summer and it seems to be returning. Two days ago, the wide-eyed forecasters on the Weather Channel predicted a Tuesday deluge to cross the state. The clouds appeared but the rain was more a whisper than a monsoon. But yesterday, it came down.

I was in a comfy chair inside Novel Tea for the Wednesday evening Writers Haven. It was billed as a chance to hang out with other local writers to exchange tips and stories, the kind we were working on and the kind you tell about writing’s daily travails. An interesting group arranged around the snack table and living room-style reading room. Me, a novelist and short story writer; a striving sci-fi writer; a guy with copies of the cover of his dark fantasy novel due out this summer; a young woman writing a film script; two romance writers, a writer/editor for two local motor-sports magazines (an illustrator, too, as he’s the shop’s artist-of-the-month), and a woman “between projects” chosen by staff to be the moderator.

I sipped an Earl Grey Moonlight iced tea. The tea was Earl Grey with orange, blue sunflowers, and natural flavors. I drank it and chipped away at a monster chocolate chip cookie that I shared with my son Kevin. I shared the story of my new historical novel set in 1919 Colorado, as foreign a land to Floridians as Florida is to Coloradans (do I have that right or is it Coloradoans?). I had copies with me. Four were signed copies to my sister-in-law Nany and her three adult children. I slipped her the books while nobody was looking and she slipped me the cash which I could use on any number of novels or teas or giant cookies. I also slipped a copy of my novel to Stephanie Gonter, one of the shop’s co-owners. I brought along my book of short stories. I am on a mission to monetize my writing journey, no easy task for us small-press-published authors.

One of the more interesting conversations was on A.I. Many self-published authors are avoiding A.I. writing yet they also employ A.I.-designed covers. Angel Lowden, the store’s other co-owner, worked the counter. She said that she and other booksellers are on the lookout for A.I. covers and usually won’t accept them in their book stock. The cover is hugely important these days and she suggested getting a professional to do the job. My daughter Annie designed the “Zeppelins” cover. She’s an artist and marketing ace and gave her dad a special deal.

Novel Tea is everything an indie should be. It’s located along a leafy street on the main floor of an old two-story house. It features a big front porch with easy chairs. Inside are overstuffed chairs and many, many books. There is a food bar and a bar-bar that serves beer and wine. Some in the gathering jumped right into happy hour. I am a teetotaler these days so Novel Tea’s specialties and their huge array of leaf teas add to the allure of its name. The play on words is nice too. I noted the shop features an array of craft brews including those from Ormond Brewing Company which is on the other side of the tracks on the line that serves Ormond Station. In reality, there is no train to Ormond Station but me and my neighbors are working on it. The shop’s next big event is June 3 with Boozy Books at the brewery. Here are details from the web site:

Our Summer Boozy Book Fair returns on June 3rd from 5 PM to 9 PM at Ormond Brewing Company.

Browse books from Novel Tea Book Shop, shop local authors and artisans, and enjoy a relaxed evening with a drink in hand. Whether you’re building your summer TBR, looking for a unique gift, or just want a fun night out, this is your spot.

We’ll have:
Local authors and book signings
Handcrafted goods from local vendors
Books for all ages and interests
Ormond Brewing featuring your favorite brews

Come out, support local, and celebrate the start of summer with us.

Free to attend. Bring a friend. 

It’s wonderful, really. Support local. Stephanie stressed that she and her partner are always looking for fun new ways to sell books and teas. I am now local but didn’t sign up in time for Boozy Books. Next time…

Note on accessibility: From the street, Novel Tea appears inaccessible for those of us using walkers, rollators, and e-carts. But it's not. Parking on the east side of the building is ample and there is a ramp inside the entrance located near the artist studio. Staff will rearrange chairs to accommodate.

DNC in Denver 2028?

A DNC exploratory committee visited Denver last week to see if it's the best place for the 2028 Democratic National Convention. Other possible 2028 locations include Boston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. 

I covered the 2008 Dem convention in Denver as an embedded blogger with the Wyoming delegation. Why not return to those glory days, when Barack Obama was the nominee and all set to move into the presidency (twice) while the GOP plotted to never let anything like that ever happen again. And look what they did. Just take a look around and see what they did to guarantee themselves a Democrat-free future, a democracy-free future. Use search bar to find my DNC Denver 2008 posts.

This was then...

Denver August 2008

Wrong shipping date confuses book buyers and me too

I was flummoxed (yes, flummoxed) to see my historical novel "Zeppelins Over Denver" listed for pre-order on Amazon.com with a shipping date of Nov. 19. On the product page, a May 5, 2026, pub date is listed and that is correct. At the same time, I was holding a copy of "Zeppelins" in my hands, wondering why an entity such as Amazon, which can speed a supply of Dude Wipes to me overnight, wants readers to wait until almost Thanksgiving for my first novel. I have alerted the site's problem-solvers and hope for a quick solution. I mean, the book is worth waiting for, might even make a great holiday gift, but I may be an old man before that comes around. Pause for fact check: I am an old man now, typing this with the same four fingers I used on typewriters and keyboards since the 1970s when I was putting my first words to paper. Yes, paper. So, if you are anxious to read a novel set in 1919 featuring characters out of The Great War in Europe, leave a comment and I will sell you a copy and mail it the old-fashioned way. 

Travel now with Patrick as he contemplates a new life in the West

The opening paragraphs of my new novel, Zeppelins Over Denver:

Patrick Michael Hott pulled his cap down on his forehead and slumped into the seat on the east side of the southbound train. It was the last day of July 1919. He shifted in the seat, trying to bend his lanky frame into the limited space. He looked out the window. Cows grazed on brown swatches of grass that stretched all the way to the flat horizon. He passed green wavy ranks of ripening corn. There was a man laboring out in his field. An old farmhouse. More cows.

He looked in the other direction, past his seatmate and to the opposite side of the train. That was the west and the Rocky Mountains. Heads and hats blocked that view out of the passenger car windows. So many big people. So many hats. Floppy women’s hats adorned with feathers. Towering cowboy hats worn by towering cowboys. Straw boaters worn by rangy young dudes. Beat-up hats worn to protect farmers from the mile-high sun. Every blessed American wore a big hat that obscured his view of the mountains. They were all on his train.

Why couldn’t they wear sensible headwear such as the soft cap he bought in Chicago on the Fourth of July? He had joined his brother’s family to picnic on Lake Michigan for the first Fourth that America celebrated after The Great War. Not even a month ago. He bought the cap from a street vendor. He liked it immediately and spent too much of his hard-earned pay for it. He liked that he could pull it down over his big ears when the winter winds blew off the lake. The bill kept the sun off his face, which would come in handy now that he was on his way to Arizona. It also gave him a dapper air, or so he believed.

To be continued

Order Zeppelins Over Denver by Michael T. Shay now from your favorite bookstore. Just yesterday, friends ordered copies from Parnassus Books in Nashville, co-owned by the magnificent Ann Patchett,  and Mitchell Kaplan's Books & Books in Miami. Mitchell was co-founder of the amazing Miami Book Fair that began in 1984. These bookstores are key parts of the literary world that keep hope alive even when dark forces try to destroy us. 

May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio, thousands in Vietnam and Cambodia, it never stops

Kent State Massacre, May 4, 1970; me (in uniform w/DEWAT rifle) marching at U of SC Navy ROTC drill, May 7, 1970; me (in civies) marching against the war on streets of D.C., May 9, 1970. Four dead in Ohio, two shot dead at Jackson State U, May 15; thousands in Vietnam, more in Cambodia, dozens of school children blown up by U.S. in Iran. It never ends.

Riding along on Peter Richardson's Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine

I read the new book by Peter Richardson, "Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine." It's published by the University of California Press. Early reviews say the book does a credible job tracing the influence of Rolling Stone with its "new journalism" or, as Hunter S. Thompson fans and critics called it, "gonzo journalism." Thompson influenced many of us but in different ways. He was criticized for his unorthodox style of reporting the 1972 U.S. presidential campaign. The establishment press had its way of covering campaigns and Thompson had his own glorious approach.

Others viewed it differently. Said novelist Nelson Algren in a 1979 review of "The Great Shark Hunt" in the Chicago Tribune: "Now that the dust of the '60s has settled, his [Thompson's] hallucinated vision strikes one as having been. after all, the sanest." 

The book's original 1973 cover has
a secret to reveal.

Thompson and Algren are both long gone. Both of these rowdy writers documented brutal eras: Thompson the 1960s and '70s; Algren the Great Depression through the 1970s. We may never see their like again. We need them now. Wouldn't it be thrilling to see Dr. Gonzo clash with Trump's oily apparatchiks?

Thompson's writing in RS influenced my writing but not my lifestyle. Both would have considered me a square. That said, I read everything Hunter S. Thompson wrote. I read every feature in Rolling Stone of the '70s and it shaped my attitude and my writing.  Once I unlocked the secret of reading at five, I absorbed everything: cereal boxes, billboards, all the books the librarians let me check out. The three important books in my life: "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller,  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, and "Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I was so wild about "Catch-22" that I forced it upon my Catholic high school friends and we were as impressed it as they were surfing and girls. It was funny. It had something to tell us. Heller was a messenger and, in 1968, we really had to listen. One of the book's suggested titles was "Snowden's Secret." Heller teases the secret throughout the book; its revelation toward the end is almost too much for Yossarian to bear. 

Every book I read told a secret. I loved the act of reading but was blissfully unaware that I also was unlocking life's secrets. 

Richardson spills plenty of Rolling Stone's secrets along the way. The magazine's biggest secret is that is existed at all. It spilled the secrets of my generation, the good (music coverage), the bad (Manson), the ugly (Altamont). It was fun. It was cool to be in the circle of readers. It shaped me into a different person than the one expected by me as a young man and those around me. 

The last five years of the 1970s were, according to the author, the magazine's golden era. The '70s were a golden era for many of us Boomers, locked into our 20s and early 30s. The mag helped us through those years, helped us get a handle on being young in America. Mischief was afoot. Cults were big. Rock grew into a giant industry. Right-wingers plotted their takeover of America which fizzled with Nixon but they wouldn't let that happen under Reagan and the cons who followed. Jann Wenner moved the Stone to New York where da big money was an it gradually grew into something much larger but also smaller. I read it only occasionally now. I like the political coverage and introduction to new music styles and new bands. 

The thing I love about Rolling Stone is that it taught me to write. It was a writer's workshop if you were paying attention. Hunter Thompson and Joe Eszterhas. I also was learning how to write like a traditional journalist while learning about "new journalism." I was too much of a straight arrow to be gonzo but the techniques are in me and enter into my fiction. Woodward and Bernstein caused a rise in J-School students while Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Tim O'Brien, Joni Mitchell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Harry Crews, and Toni Morrison taught us to by-God write like we meant every damn word. This is a short list of my writing heroes/heroines, one befitting a blogger who keeps on truckin'.

Richardson's book was published by University of California Press. It is a university press, a key player in the publishing universe. As you might expect, documentation is required. Richardson provides it in spades. A "Random Notes" section brings readers up to date on the key players. That is followed by Acknowledgements, Notes (lots and lots of notes), and Index. Use the book as a handy guide to a decade, 1967-76, that could be called "the shadow 60s" for its many USA-rockin' events. 

"Zeppelins Over Denver" now available to pre-order

On April 24, I guesstimated that "Zeppelins Over Denver" would be out by summer. You have to be careful with these things as publishing tends to take time and you don't want to get readers' hopes up unnecessarily. 

"Zeppelins" is now on pre-order (May 5 official pub date) at your favorite bookstore or even from your least favorite big-box outlet that places book bins somewhere among twelve-packs of underwear and rows of gleaming BBQ grills. 

My goal is to get the book into local stores and those in my old stomping grounds of Wyoming and Colorado. It's a bit tricky because the book is set in Colorado, specifically Denver, in 1919. I'm now officially a Florida resident, a return to my roots and the comfort of family. My Colorado roots go back to 1919 when all of my grandparents decided Denver was the place to be. 

My grandmother Florence decided to extend her tenure as an army nurse in France to the new army hospital in someplace called Aurora. There she met and married my grandfather Raymond, a cavalry officer from Iowa who left the war with lung problems so they shipped him to the hospital that eventually became Fitzsimons Army Hospital. Cavalry officer met nurse and there you go. 

My Irish immigrant grandfather Martin left sweltering Chicago after having a lung surgically removed due to empyema. The surgeon urged him to recuperate in a drier clime, Arizona, for instance, or maybe Denver. He chose Denver. Grandmother Agnes, the first postmistress of a tiny town near Cincinnati, jumped into a Model T with her sister and two gal-pals and drove the rugged road to Colorado. She and her sister decided to stay while the others returned to the banks of the Ohio. Martin and Agnes met at the Hibernian Club and one thing led to another and here I am.

That's just background. The setting is important to me as I was born in Denver, did some of my growing up there, returned after college to work, left Denver to go to grad school up I-25 at CSU, and then moved north to Cheyenne to work for the Wyoming Arts Council for 25 years. Retirement party with great homemade pie on a Friday in January 2016. On Monday morning, I sat and started writing this book.

Co-worker at retirement party: Hey Mike, whatcha gonna do after retirement? You can't just sit around, you know. 

Me: I'm gonna sit around and write a novel. A historical novel.

Co-worker: That's nice. Give me another slice of that pie.

Ten years later, I'm in Florida and I have a book. Easy as pie.

Stay tuned here for more updates.